May 8, 2025 • 28 mins
In this episode of Find Your Edge, Coach Chris Newport breaks down popular supplements for endurance athletes—backed by science, tested in real-world training. Learn which ones are worth your attention, and which ones may depend on your unique physiology and genetics.
🔹 The #1 most proven supplement for endurance
🔹 Why sodium—not just electrolytes—is your race-day MVP
🔹 How sweat testing can reveal your exact electrolyte needs
🔹 The caffeine conundrum: why your genes matter more than you think
🔹 Beetroot juice & nitric oxide: helpful or hype?
🔹 Beta-alanine, creatine, and sodium bicarb—when (or if) they make sense
🔹 The real risk of high-dose antioxidants on training adaptation
🔹 Why every supplement must be tested in training first
🎯 Ready to personalize your plan?
Join our Fueling and Hydration Bootcamp to get sweat testing, expert coaching, and customized protocols that actually work for YOU!
Download our free resources:
- 6 Steps to Triathlon Success: Free Guide
- Hydration Guide for Athletes
- Runner's Fueling & Hydration Cheat Sheet
- Guide to High Performance Healthy Eating
Find us here: TheEnduranceEdge.com
Race with us: Humans of Steel Olympic & Sprint Triathlon at Harris Lake, NC
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey y'all, and welcome back to the Find your
Edge podcast.
I am excited you are here.
I am your host, coach KrisNewport, and we are talking
about some fun stuff todaySupplements for endurance
performance, what works, what isnot really worth your time and
what might work.
So let's jump right in.
And I also wanna make sure thatthis isn't a pitch for powders
(00:24):
or pills or potions or anythinglike this.
This is about evidence-basedtools that complement your
training and daily nutrition.
So I cannot emphasize thatenough, y'all, that supplements
are not going to fixinconsistent training or lack
thereof, or just a crappy diet.
(00:45):
So and I laugh because it's soeasy to do and it's just also so
easy to be like, well, if Itake this magic pill, then won't
I get better?
And maybe, but that really isthe foundation is good quality
training, consistent trainingand consistent daily nutrition.
Oh, and might I also add thatyour truly magic pill is sleep.
(01:07):
But that's not what today'sepisode is all about.
It's all about what thingsactually work to help your
endurance performance.
So the big one, in fact the bigthree here are the magic ones.
You guys drum roll, listen up.
Here they are Carbohydrates,electrolytes and fluids.
(01:28):
So carbohydrates are yournumber one fuel.
I mean, the research is veryclear that carbs are the most
proven supplement for yourendurance performance,
especially as a multi-sportathlete, as a runner, as a
cyclist, as a female, as a male,as a kid, as a master's athlete
, it doesn't matter.
(01:48):
Carbs truly are king in helpingyou delay fatigue, in helping
you maintain adequate bloodglucose, in helping improve your
time to exhaustion, in otherwords, the amount of time that
you get tired in your race.
So, most of the time,carbohydrates are going to be
either before exercise, duringexercise or post-exercise.
(02:13):
There's a lot of nuances andvariations and we go over all
this in the Fueling andHydration Bootcamp that's coming
up in the next couple of weeks.
So, if you haven't already, besure to head over to the
enduranceedgecom forward slashfueling bootcamp and get on the
priority list.
We open up our doors next weekand then we get started the week
(02:34):
afterwards and includes sweattesting and includes all this
information about how you digestand absorb and metabolize
carbohydrates, fluid,electrolytes, so that you can
make the appropriate choices foryou on how to do this pre,
during and post-workout.
Because, yes, are there lots ofdifferent guidelines of you
(02:56):
must eat beforehand and you haveto, you know, eat during
exercise at.
You know, said interval andrecovery must be answered.
Yes, we have all that, but foryou specifically, and putting it
all together, that's where wethat's the gold of this program
is helping you to determine whendo you need and what do you
(03:17):
need, pre-workout, during andafterwards, based on your
training and based on whateverrace distance you are doing.
So, getting a little bit moreinto carb loading is there a
specific strategy for carbloading?
Yes, this sort of antiquatedversion was, a week prior to
your event is to have like areally really hard workout and
(03:41):
then basically go super low onyour carbs for the next several
days.
As you might imagine, everybodygot really really grouchy and
then, prior to the race, wouldjust be sort of stuffing your
face full of carbs and then, loand behold, it was seen that it
helped, but this strategy wasjust not quite as optimal as it
could have been.
(04:01):
So then they started leaninginto a more short carb loading
opportunity, and that's allabout optimizing your glycogen
stores.
This isn't about like, oh mygosh, I get to eat all the
cookies in the world whichwouldn't that be nice but
there's other metabolicprocesses that are going on when
we're just eating lots of carbsbut not necessarily exercising.
(04:22):
That we want to avoid and someof that is genetically related.
Anyhow, during exercise,carbohydrates certainly for 90
minute plus exercise are goingto be beneficial, whether it
comes in the form of fruit,whether it comes in the form of
energy gels or drinks or thosetypes of products Typically the
(04:44):
amount that we're going to seethat are beneficial.
I usually like to start peopleoff a little lower and then we
increase.
From there.
We're finding more and morelike we don't really know what
the gut can absorb becausepeople are always pushing the
limits, which is great to seewhat your limit is, but at the
end of the day you have tofigure out what your limit
actually is.
So usually a good place tostart is somewhere around 25 to
(05:07):
30 grams of carbs per hour.
That's likely going to be lowerand you can start to work your
way up from there.
We've sort of gotten married tothis like 60 gram, 90 gram,
maybe it's 120 gram, but it'sgoing to be very specific to you
and your race distance.
The shorter you go, the morecarbs you're burning and the
(05:27):
less your body wants to digest.
The longer you go.
The slower you go, the more youcan lean into some of that fat
oxidation and using that as anenergy source, the less reliant
you are on glycogen and then youcan digest a little bit more.
So there's a spectrum based onyour intensity and based on your
(05:51):
needs.
And then of course, we havepost-exercise in terms of
recovery and, most importantly,with glycogen replenishment, or
putting back all of thecarbohydrates that you used or
the glycogen that you usedduring your exercise, putting
that back into the muscles inparticular and training is part
of what helps that process.
(06:12):
And then in the fueling andhydration bootcamp we get more
into multiple transportablecarbs, because what we're
finding at least in theliterature but you have to
experiment for yourself is thatat a certain point certain
transporters get saturated andthen are no longer able to take
in and oxidize that carbohydratefor exercise sort of reach a
(06:34):
tipping point.
And then we have to use othertypes of carbohydrates, like
fructose for longer events,because that's a different
transporter and has to gothrough the liver first.
So kind of fun and interestingthere.
Next piece that we're makingsure to not ignore from a
supplement perspective forendurance performance is
electrolytes and hydration.
(06:56):
Remember that electrolytes isvery important to have sodium
and chloride.
So you know salt potassium isalso a major player.
Magnesium is also a majorplayer and helps maintain that
fluid balance nerve transmissionand muscle contraction, in
particular magnesium when itcomes to muscle relaxation.
(07:16):
So a nice balance of those.
And the reason why I mentionedbalance is because oftentimes
folks, especially in the morenatural realm and I'm air
quoting here lean into thingsthat have more coconut water,
which is a great product andcertainly no issues with coconut
water.
In and of itself it is veryhigh in potassium, but if
(07:39):
they're not balancing with morelevels of sodium, we can put
ourselves at risk for differentelectrolyte imbalances.
In particular, I have seenhyperkalemia, which is high
amounts of potassium, and thenhyponatremia, which is low
amounts of sodium, from someonewho's drinking only water and
neglecting the electrolytes.
(07:59):
Where do you start from a matterof electrolytes, like, do I
just start taking salt stickpills or do I just grab an
element container off of thestore shelf and just start
drinking?
That Good question.
I don't necessarily have theperfect answer, because we use
sweat testing in order todetermine that number, because
the numbers are just soincredibly vast and wide ranging
(08:24):
that this is where I get alittle bit uncomfortable for
people just being like oh, justtry this.
If you're doing like a generalGatorade, you're probably going
to be just fine.
But when we get into longerdistance things, if you're
starting to have issues with GImatters, if you're starting to
have issues with cramping, ifyou're getting excessively
(08:46):
fatigued, those types of thingsand actually electrolytes matter
in the recovery process,believe it or not Then we start
to look a little deeper intowhat is the appropriate
electrolyte needs for you, basedon what you're losing, because
your sweat is literally likeyour fingerprint.
I have seen some folks lose aslittle as about 200 to 300
(09:09):
milligrams of sodium per hourand well over 5,000 milligrams
of sodium per hour.
So I can't necessarily makejust a general guideline other
than make sure to includeelectrolytes.
But there are so many differentproducts on the market it's
truly overwhelming.
I encourage people yes, you doneed to start somewhere.
And generally, generally thestuff on the grocery store
(09:31):
shelves.
While I don't love a lot of thedifferent sweeteners or
artificial sweeteners andwhatnot, it can be a good
starting point until you find,okay, let's dig into this a
little bit deeper.
And that's what we do in thefueling and hydration bootcamp
is actually testing your sweat,because it doesn't change.
The electrolyte content doesn'tchange.
I've had people insist I wantanother sweat test.
(09:54):
No problem Comes out the same.
So then we can start todetermine okay, what do we need
during an hour hot workout?
What do we need during a fivehour half Ironman In cooler
conditions?
What do we need in an IronmanCooler conditions, what do we
need in an Ironman?
All of that is something that'seasily determined as long as
(10:17):
you have your sweat needs.
So sodium is absolutely themost critical, especially for
those heavy sweaters and hotpositions.
Welcome to North Carolina Ifyou are in North Carolina.
It's hot, you guys.
So we don't want you to becramping, we don't want you to
have any dizziness or GIdistress, and certainly no
hyponutrient, which is far moredangerous than dehydration, and
making sure that we test thatsweat so that we know and can be
(10:41):
more educated to find the rightsolution for you.
So definitely, yourelectrolytes, your carbohydrates
, are successful enduranceperformance boosters, just like
water.
I'm not going to get too deeplyinto water, because we know
water is important.
The body is made up mostly ofwater and it's important to be
(11:02):
able to fuel those cells.
Let's talk about those good oldergogenic aids or supplements
that may be performanceenhancing, ergogenic aids or
supplements that may beperformance enhancing Number one
drum roll.
Do you know what it is?
It's probably sitting.
If you're sitting in your cardriving to work, it's probably
sitting in your coffee holder.
Oh, I just gave it away.
Well, it could be coffee, butcaffeine.
(11:24):
So some people take thatcaffeine in the form of coffee.
Some people take it in the formof energy drinks or in the form
of a pill like a no dose orsomething like that.
There's lots of different waysthat we can get caffeine, but
this is an interesting one.
It's heavily, heavilyresearched, but there is a
(11:45):
genetic wild card.
So where caffeine is helpful isit can reduce our perceived
exertion.
So if it's like, oh my gosh,this is hard, caffeine will just
make it feel a little less hard.
It can increase your alertness,certainly can be important if
you are navigating a hard courseor need to stay awake in the
(12:11):
dark during an ultra run, andcertainly can enhance endurance
performance.
So good common protocol tostart with is somewhere between
three to six milligrams ofcaffeine per kilogram of body
weight.
So take your body weight inpounds, divide that by 2.2, and
then you get your weight inkilograms.
So that's often a good startingpoint and how they've done a
(12:36):
lot of the research and that'stypically consumed in the 45
minutes to 60 minutes beforestarting exercise.
Here's the genetic wildcardagain.
Here's the genetic wildcardagain.
Fun fact did you know thatcaffeine, across different
humans, has a 40 fold differencein how we process it?
(12:56):
So this is insane to me andalso relates to how you're going
to use caffeine during exerciseor before exercise.
That is so.
If you're somebody who processescaffeine quickly, you are going
to benefit from having somecloser to time, or even during
exercise.
If you're someone who processit on the opposite end of the
(13:18):
spectrum, very slowly, thecaffeine you take in really
won't kick in, in essence, untilyou're probably even done with
your day, and then it couldpotentially affect your sleep
later on in the evening, andthen that of course, affects our
recovery.
So knowing what your caffeinegenetics will help you determine
(13:39):
what protocol to use.
Then of course, you have tostart practicing it.
So even if you're somebody whoprocesses caffeine very quickly
but you take a high dose of itand you're not used to that,
it's likely going to make youjittery, it's going to increase
your heart rate and oftentimesthat just brings additional
anxiety, especially for somebodywho's very well in tune with
(14:00):
what their zones are or whattheir heart rate should or
should not be.
Given a certain intensity and ifyou've taken too much, even
though you process it quickly,that feeling of all of that
caffeine hitting you at once,hitting those adenosine
receptors and being like oh, oh,my gosh, I feel like my heart
is going to beat out of my chest.
We need to practice.
(14:20):
What's your timing beforehand?
How much are you going to tryto use?
Because, depending on yourhabitual use of caffeine that's
where some of this comes intoplay the more habitual you are,
typically you're not going tofeel the effects as much for
exercise.
But again, everybody is unique,so that response is genetically
(14:43):
dependent, based on fast orslow caffeine metabolizers, and
certainly the fast metabolizershave seen a higher boost in
performance.
A slower metabolizer,especially paired with some of
your other genetics, mightactually raise the potential
risk of heart attacks and, again, disrupt sleep or just
(15:05):
generally provide no benefit.
So this is one of those thatyou have to ease into it a
little bit.
Oftentimes.
Most people know how theygenerally react to caffeine, but
some people are surprised.
Keep in mind that caffeineagain can come in things like
pills, gels, chews.
So just make sure that whateveryou're doing, you got to test
it before you actually use it.
(15:27):
All right, so next one up.
This is nitric oxide boosters.
You may have heard of thingslike.
May have heard them calledthings like NO boosters or
beetroot juice.
We have a nice partnership witha company called Alt Red.
That's a great little productand you can literally see that
it's beetroots in a pill version.
(15:48):
So it is purported to increaseblood flow and improve oxygen
efficiency and reducing theoverall cost, if you will, of
exercise.
So it may help with lowerintensity, longer duration
events.
But you know there's somedifferent mixed research on
(16:10):
which type of exercise do wewant to use it?
Do we want to lean more intoendurance?
Do we want to lean more intousing it for strength and power?
It oftentimes will work betterin more non-elite.
So you know certainly myself Iam not elite at all.
Interestingly, nitric oxideboosters are affected by your
oral microbiome and yourgenetics.
(16:31):
So when I say oral microbiome,a lot of people think of the
microbiome being their gut only.
We have multiple microbiomesacross our entire body, which is
so fascinating to me, and oneof them, of course, being in
your mouth, to me, and one ofthem, of course, being in your
(16:52):
mouth.
So any nitric oxide booster youmight be taking, whether it be
from beetroot juice, whether itbe from citronine, citrulline or
arginine or a combinationthereof, if you brush your
tongue prior to using it, it isnot seen to be as effective.
Isn't that fascinating?
Not that I don't want you tohave good oral microbiome health
(17:12):
, but it can actually affectthat.
Similarly, and most importantlyin my mind, some people
genetically convert nitrates tonitric oxide more efficiently.
If you have genetics that aregood at this process, those
nitric oxide boosters are kindof pointless for you.
Save your money.
(17:32):
You're welcome.
If, on the other hand, thepeople who will benefit the most
from things like nitric oxideboosters are the ones who have a
certain genetic snip withspecific alleles, so specific
genetic combinations that arenot very good at this process.
(17:53):
Therefore, those nitric oxideboosters are going to help.
Now, that being said, nitricoxide boosters are also in
naturally in things like spinachand beets and arugula.
Spinach and beets and arugula,please, y'all eat your
(18:14):
vegetables.
But again, you can save yourmoney if there are certain
genetic alleles that you havethat mean you don't need it or
you would certainly benefit from.
So then you can decide whetheryou want to go that route, all
right.
So here are some additionalsupplements that might help, but
perhaps only in specificcontexts.
So one that's being studiedright now beta alanine.
There has been research forendurance performance in the
(18:40):
training aspect with repeatedhigh intensity efforts, but less
helpful for long steady stateendurance.
So if you're going out for afour hour zone to ride or a two
hour zone to run, beta alanineprobably not going to be as
beneficial.
But if you're doing repeatedhigh intensity let's say FTP
(19:03):
intervals or VO2 max intervalsthen beta alanine can be
supportive.
However, this is not like a oneand done kind of deal.
It's not like caffeine, whereyou take it and you're like oh
okay, you're working.
Beta alanine is a little bitdifferent.
You have to be on it morechronically in order for it to
(19:23):
take effect.
So that just may generally beone of those like eh, is it
worth it If you're doingsomething like sprint or Olympic
distance triathlons or you'redoing 5k, 8k, 10k?
Eh, maybe If you want to playwith it?
One of the biggest side effectsor potential side effects that
(19:43):
people might call it a complaintor call it.
An interesting feeling is thereis this sensation of tingling
when you take it.
So some people really like thatand honestly I think that
likely that likely promotes thepotential placebo effect.
So if it's not actuallybenefiting your performance but
(20:05):
you feel this tingling effect,it's like, oh yeah, I'm getting
ready for exercise and that mayalone help your performance, so
that might be worth it.
If you feel uncomfortable withthat tingling sensation and
there's some bufferedbeta-alanine sources that reduce
that feeling again, this mightbe one.
(20:26):
Eh, you might leave it on theshelf still.
Or if you're able tochronically take it and
certainly doing a lot of highintensity intervals, you may
find a benefit of it.
But this might be one that youmight be able to do without.
A more recent one that's comingback into popularity, which kind
of blows my mind a little bit,but hey, that's how we operate,
(20:49):
right?
Is sodium bicarbonate, orbicarb for short.
Y'all this is baking soda, soit buffers lactic acid but
oftentimes causes GI distressunless it's dosed precisely.
So we get a little bit deeperinto this.
I'm not going to go into thisnow in terms of how you dose it
and when you take it, but thisis another one that does need a
(21:12):
little bit of a runway.
So anywhere from four to sixweeks of taking it on a more
consistent basis, and you haveto practice it.
This is not something that youcan just down a bunch of baking
soda and hope for the best,because you might regret that
very quickly.
So another one that I want tomake sure to address is creatine
.
I personally love creatine.
(21:33):
I think it's a great productand certainly used in a lot of
strength and power sports.
But holy smokes, this one hasbeen researched in so many
different applications.
It's amazing, everything fromtraumatic brain injuries to
increased weightlifting.
It may support more highintensity efforts, more so than
(21:57):
certainly in multi-sportathletes or in, you know,
endurance athletes, but it'sless effective in.
Will it help you get a fasterIronman time?
Probably not.
Will it hurt you or decreaseyour likelihood of gaining time?
Also probably not.
But if you are somebody who'svegan, certainly that's a great
(22:20):
one to lean into and of courseyou won't know this until you
start to take it.
Somebody who has lower baselinelevels of creatine, because for
some people again geneticallycreatine they can take it and
they don't ever really raisetheir baseline levels and it
won't necessarily provide thestrength and power boost.
(22:41):
But another population that I'mfinding it to be really
beneficial for is menopausalwomen.
To be really beneficial for ismenopausal women as we start to
lose bone mass, potentially, orlean body mass.
This is one.
In conjunction with picking upheavy things or your strength
training could support lean bodymass and maintaining that.
So in that respect, if somebodyis also picking up heavy things
(23:04):
and doing endurance sports, itcan certainly support that lean
body mass and longevity, ratherthan just thinking of oh, will
it make me faster in my Ironman?
I certainly lean more into theformer, but will it make you
faster in Ironman?
Probably not.
So again, might be one of thosethat you leave behind.
And quick note on creatinedon't want it to be in liquid
(23:27):
for extended periods of time.
It's not not as effective, allright.
So another one that I would beremiss if I didn't mention it
antioxidants.
Chronic high dose antioxidantuse is not recommended and can
blunt your training adaptations.
So what do I mean by specificantioxidants?
Because antioxidants can be avery broad range, but more
(23:51):
specifically I'm talking aboutvitamin C and vitamin E.
I know people love theiremergency products and they're
taking it chronically or evenmore, more than a thousand
milligrams a day, 2000, 3000.
And certainly in the periods oftime surrounding exercise it
seems to blunt some of thosetraining adaptations.
So probably not the best optionif you are looking at
(24:17):
increasing your endurance.
And definitely vitamin E is thesame.
But, that being said, it isgood for you to get those things
from your food.
So vitamin C, things like redbell peppers, strawberries,
guava, if you have access to it,and vitamin E is nuts and seeds
that you can sprinkle on youroatmeal and add to your snacks.
(24:41):
So those certainly will helpyour daily nutrition and support
your overall training.
But in chronic high doses,antioxidant supplementation can
blunt those training adaptations.
So all right.
So what should you actually dowhen it comes to supplements?
Well, that really depends onyou, but we certainly know that
(25:04):
carbs, hydration andelectrolytes start with the
basics.
Those guys are certainly goingto be the ones that actually
work.
Make sure, also, everythingneeds to be tested in training,
especially for events over 90minutes, so that there are no
surprises on race day, andthings like lab data can
certainly be helpful andinsightful for making sure that
(25:27):
you're picking out.
It's just a faster track topick out what actually works for
you from your sweat testingresults from your genetic
insights in order to fine tuneyour strategies.
And remember, supplements aretools, not shortcuts.
So just a reminder that yourbiggest friends for improving
(25:48):
your endurance performance areconsistent training, good
quality consistent training, Ishould say, consistent sleep and
wonderful daily nutrition.
So if this episode got youthinking about how to fine tune
your supplement strategy, oreven if you've been second
guessing what to eat or drink onrace day, then definitely check
(26:08):
out our fueling and hydrationbootcamp.
That is exactly what you need.
Grab a spot on the prioritylist.
Now.
It's the endurance edgecomforward slash fueling bootcamp,
and inside that program we covereverything from carbohydrates
in depth we go into themetabolism of them so that you
can create your specificstrategy for every different
(26:31):
race distance going overelectrolytes, reviewing caffeine
, including going over thedifferent genetics, going over
nitric oxide boosters, so thatyou can actually start to test
what works for you timeeverything correctly.
And then you'll also get accessto fueling calculators,
templates for different types ofevents and guidance directly
(26:51):
from me so that you can build aplan that's race ready, not just
lab perfect.
So whether you're gearing up fora marathon or triathlon long
distance cycling event, this iscertainly the most comprehensive
, science-backed program to helpyou show up confident and
prepared on race day.
So spots are limited.
Again, just a remindertheenduranceedgecom forward
(27:14):
slash fueling bootcamp.
To get onto the priority list.
Save your spot and if you likedthis episode, be sure to
subscribe.
Share it with a training buddy.
That really helps us out.
Who needs to hear this too?
And until next time, trainsmart and fuel smarter.
Hey y'all, and welcome back to the Find your
Edge podcast.
I am excited you are here.
I am your host, coach KrisNewport, and we are talking
about some fun stuff todaySupplements for endurance
performance, what works, what isnot really worth your time and
what might work.
So let's jump right in.
And I also wanna make sure thatthis isn't a pitch for powders
(00:24):
or pills or potions or anythinglike this.
This is about evidence-basedtools that complement your
training and daily nutrition.
So I cannot emphasize thatenough, y'all, that supplements
are not going to fixinconsistent training or lack
thereof, or just a crappy diet.
(00:45):
So and I laugh because it's soeasy to do and it's just also so
easy to be like, well, if Itake this magic pill, then won't
I get better?
And maybe, but that really isthe foundation is good quality
training, consistent trainingand consistent daily nutrition.
Oh, and might I also add thatyour truly magic pill is sleep.
(01:07):
But that's not what today'sepisode is all about.
It's all about what thingsactually work to help your
endurance performance.
So the big one, in fact the bigthree here are the magic ones.
You guys drum roll, listen up.
Here they are Carbohydrates,electrolytes and fluids.
(01:28):
So carbohydrates are yournumber one fuel.
I mean, the research is veryclear that carbs are the most
proven supplement for yourendurance performance,
especially as a multi-sportathlete, as a runner, as a
cyclist, as a female, as a male,as a kid, as a master's athlete
, it doesn't matter.
(01:48):
Carbs truly are king in helpingyou delay fatigue, in helping
you maintain adequate bloodglucose, in helping improve your
time to exhaustion, in otherwords, the amount of time that
you get tired in your race.
So, most of the time,carbohydrates are going to be
either before exercise, duringexercise or post-exercise.
(02:13):
There's a lot of nuances andvariations and we go over all
this in the Fueling andHydration Bootcamp that's coming
up in the next couple of weeks.
So, if you haven't already, besure to head over to the
enduranceedgecom forward slashfueling bootcamp and get on the
priority list.
We open up our doors next weekand then we get started the week
(02:34):
afterwards and includes sweattesting and includes all this
information about how you digestand absorb and metabolize
carbohydrates, fluid,electrolytes, so that you can
make the appropriate choices foryou on how to do this pre,
during and post-workout.
Because, yes, are there lots ofdifferent guidelines of you
(02:56):
must eat beforehand and you haveto, you know, eat during
exercise at.
You know, said interval andrecovery must be answered.
Yes, we have all that, but foryou specifically, and putting it
all together, that's where wethat's the gold of this program
is helping you to determine whendo you need and what do you
(03:17):
need, pre-workout, during andafterwards, based on your
training and based on whateverrace distance you are doing.
So, getting a little bit moreinto carb loading is there a
specific strategy for carbloading?
Yes, this sort of antiquatedversion was, a week prior to
your event is to have like areally really hard workout and
(03:41):
then basically go super low onyour carbs for the next several
days.
As you might imagine, everybodygot really really grouchy and
then, prior to the race, wouldjust be sort of stuffing your
face full of carbs and then, loand behold, it was seen that it
helped, but this strategy wasjust not quite as optimal as it
could have been.
(04:01):
So then they started leaninginto a more short carb loading
opportunity, and that's allabout optimizing your glycogen
stores.
This isn't about like, oh mygosh, I get to eat all the
cookies in the world whichwouldn't that be nice but
there's other metabolicprocesses that are going on when
we're just eating lots of carbsbut not necessarily exercising.
(04:22):
That we want to avoid and someof that is genetically related.
Anyhow, during exercise,carbohydrates certainly for 90
minute plus exercise are goingto be beneficial, whether it
comes in the form of fruit,whether it comes in the form of
energy gels or drinks or thosetypes of products Typically the
(04:44):
amount that we're going to seethat are beneficial.
I usually like to start peopleoff a little lower and then we
increase.
From there.
We're finding more and morelike we don't really know what
the gut can absorb becausepeople are always pushing the
limits, which is great to seewhat your limit is, but at the
end of the day you have tofigure out what your limit
actually is.
So usually a good place tostart is somewhere around 25 to
(05:07):
30 grams of carbs per hour.
That's likely going to be lowerand you can start to work your
way up from there.
We've sort of gotten married tothis like 60 gram, 90 gram,
maybe it's 120 gram, but it'sgoing to be very specific to you
and your race distance.
The shorter you go, the morecarbs you're burning and the
(05:27):
less your body wants to digest.
The longer you go.
The slower you go, the more youcan lean into some of that fat
oxidation and using that as anenergy source, the less reliant
you are on glycogen and then youcan digest a little bit more.
So there's a spectrum based onyour intensity and based on your
(05:51):
needs.
And then of course, we havepost-exercise in terms of
recovery and, most importantly,with glycogen replenishment, or
putting back all of thecarbohydrates that you used or
the glycogen that you usedduring your exercise, putting
that back into the muscles inparticular and training is part
of what helps that process.
(06:12):
And then in the fueling andhydration bootcamp we get more
into multiple transportablecarbs, because what we're
finding at least in theliterature but you have to
experiment for yourself is thatat a certain point certain
transporters get saturated andthen are no longer able to take
in and oxidize that carbohydratefor exercise sort of reach a
(06:34):
tipping point.
And then we have to use othertypes of carbohydrates, like
fructose for longer events,because that's a different
transporter and has to gothrough the liver first.
So kind of fun and interestingthere.
Next piece that we're makingsure to not ignore from a
supplement perspective forendurance performance is
electrolytes and hydration.
(06:56):
Remember that electrolytes isvery important to have sodium
and chloride.
So you know salt potassium isalso a major player.
Magnesium is also a majorplayer and helps maintain that
fluid balance nerve transmissionand muscle contraction, in
particular magnesium when itcomes to muscle relaxation.
(07:16):
So a nice balance of those.
And the reason why I mentionedbalance is because oftentimes
folks, especially in the morenatural realm and I'm air
quoting here lean into thingsthat have more coconut water,
which is a great product andcertainly no issues with coconut
water.
In and of itself it is veryhigh in potassium, but if
(07:39):
they're not balancing with morelevels of sodium, we can put
ourselves at risk for differentelectrolyte imbalances.
In particular, I have seenhyperkalemia, which is high
amounts of potassium, and thenhyponatremia, which is low
amounts of sodium, from someonewho's drinking only water and
neglecting the electrolytes.
(07:59):
Where do you start from a matterof electrolytes, like, do I
just start taking salt stickpills or do I just grab an
element container off of thestore shelf and just start
drinking?
That Good question.
I don't necessarily have theperfect answer, because we use
sweat testing in order todetermine that number, because
the numbers are just soincredibly vast and wide ranging
(08:24):
that this is where I get alittle bit uncomfortable for
people just being like oh, justtry this.
If you're doing like a generalGatorade, you're probably going
to be just fine.
But when we get into longerdistance things, if you're
starting to have issues with GImatters, if you're starting to
have issues with cramping, ifyou're getting excessively
(08:46):
fatigued, those types of thingsand actually electrolytes matter
in the recovery process,believe it or not Then we start
to look a little deeper intowhat is the appropriate
electrolyte needs for you, basedon what you're losing, because
your sweat is literally likeyour fingerprint.
I have seen some folks lose aslittle as about 200 to 300
(09:09):
milligrams of sodium per hourand well over 5,000 milligrams
of sodium per hour.
So I can't necessarily makejust a general guideline other
than make sure to includeelectrolytes.
But there are so many differentproducts on the market it's
truly overwhelming.
I encourage people yes, you doneed to start somewhere.
And generally, generally thestuff on the grocery store
(09:31):
shelves.
While I don't love a lot of thedifferent sweeteners or
artificial sweeteners andwhatnot, it can be a good
starting point until you find,okay, let's dig into this a
little bit deeper.
And that's what we do in thefueling and hydration bootcamp
is actually testing your sweat,because it doesn't change.
The electrolyte content doesn'tchange.
I've had people insist I wantanother sweat test.
(09:54):
No problem Comes out the same.
So then we can start todetermine okay, what do we need
during an hour hot workout?
What do we need during a fivehour half Ironman In cooler
conditions?
What do we need in an IronmanCooler conditions, what do we
need in an Ironman?
All of that is something that'seasily determined as long as
(10:17):
you have your sweat needs.
So sodium is absolutely themost critical, especially for
those heavy sweaters and hotpositions.
Welcome to North Carolina Ifyou are in North Carolina.
It's hot, you guys.
So we don't want you to becramping, we don't want you to
have any dizziness or GIdistress, and certainly no
hyponutrient, which is far moredangerous than dehydration, and
making sure that we test thatsweat so that we know and can be
(10:41):
more educated to find the rightsolution for you.
So definitely, yourelectrolytes, your carbohydrates
, are successful enduranceperformance boosters, just like
water.
I'm not going to get too deeplyinto water, because we know
water is important.
The body is made up mostly ofwater and it's important to be
(11:02):
able to fuel those cells.
Let's talk about those good oldergogenic aids or supplements
that may be performanceenhancing, ergogenic aids or
supplements that may beperformance enhancing Number one
drum roll.
Do you know what it is?
It's probably sitting.
If you're sitting in your cardriving to work, it's probably
sitting in your coffee holder.
Oh, I just gave it away.
Well, it could be coffee, butcaffeine.
(11:24):
So some people take thatcaffeine in the form of coffee.
Some people take it in the formof energy drinks or in the form
of a pill like a no dose orsomething like that.
There's lots of different waysthat we can get caffeine, but
this is an interesting one.
It's heavily, heavilyresearched, but there is a
(11:45):
genetic wild card.
So where caffeine is helpful isit can reduce our perceived
exertion.
So if it's like, oh my gosh,this is hard, caffeine will just
make it feel a little less hard.
It can increase your alertness,certainly can be important if
you are navigating a hard courseor need to stay awake in the
(12:11):
dark during an ultra run, andcertainly can enhance endurance
performance.
So good common protocol tostart with is somewhere between
three to six milligrams ofcaffeine per kilogram of body
weight.
So take your body weight inpounds, divide that by 2.2, and
then you get your weight inkilograms.
So that's often a good startingpoint and how they've done a
(12:36):
lot of the research and that'stypically consumed in the 45
minutes to 60 minutes beforestarting exercise.
Here's the genetic wildcardagain.
Here's the genetic wildcardagain.
Fun fact did you know thatcaffeine, across different
humans, has a 40 fold differencein how we process it?
(12:56):
So this is insane to me andalso relates to how you're going
to use caffeine during exerciseor before exercise.
That is so.
If you're somebody who processescaffeine quickly, you are going
to benefit from having somecloser to time, or even during
exercise.
If you're someone who processit on the opposite end of the
(13:18):
spectrum, very slowly, thecaffeine you take in really
won't kick in, in essence, untilyou're probably even done with
your day, and then it couldpotentially affect your sleep
later on in the evening, andthen that of course, affects our
recovery.
So knowing what your caffeinegenetics will help you determine
(13:39):
what protocol to use.
Then of course, you have tostart practicing it.
So even if you're somebody whoprocesses caffeine very quickly
but you take a high dose of itand you're not used to that,
it's likely going to make youjittery, it's going to increase
your heart rate and oftentimesthat just brings additional
anxiety, especially for somebodywho's very well in tune with
(14:00):
what their zones are or whattheir heart rate should or
should not be.
Given a certain intensity and ifyou've taken too much, even
though you process it quickly,that feeling of all of that
caffeine hitting you at once,hitting those adenosine
receptors and being like oh, oh,my gosh, I feel like my heart
is going to beat out of my chest.
We need to practice.
(14:20):
What's your timing beforehand?
How much are you going to tryto use?
Because, depending on yourhabitual use of caffeine that's
where some of this comes intoplay the more habitual you are,
typically you're not going tofeel the effects as much for
exercise.
But again, everybody is unique,so that response is genetically
(14:43):
dependent, based on fast orslow caffeine metabolizers, and
certainly the fast metabolizershave seen a higher boost in
performance.
A slower metabolizer,especially paired with some of
your other genetics, mightactually raise the potential
risk of heart attacks and, again, disrupt sleep or just
(15:05):
generally provide no benefit.
So this is one of those thatyou have to ease into it a
little bit.
Oftentimes.
Most people know how theygenerally react to caffeine, but
some people are surprised.
Keep in mind that caffeineagain can come in things like
pills, gels, chews.
So just make sure that whateveryou're doing, you got to test
it before you actually use it.
(15:27):
All right, so next one up.
This is nitric oxide boosters.
You may have heard of thingslike.
May have heard them calledthings like NO boosters or
beetroot juice.
We have a nice partnership witha company called Alt Red.
That's a great little productand you can literally see that
it's beetroots in a pill version.
(15:48):
So it is purported to increaseblood flow and improve oxygen
efficiency and reducing theoverall cost, if you will, of
exercise.
So it may help with lowerintensity, longer duration
events.
But you know there's somedifferent mixed research on
(16:10):
which type of exercise do wewant to use it?
Do we want to lean more intoendurance?
Do we want to lean more intousing it for strength and power?
It oftentimes will work betterin more non-elite.
So you know certainly myself Iam not elite at all.
Interestingly, nitric oxideboosters are affected by your
oral microbiome and yourgenetics.
(16:31):
So when I say oral microbiome,a lot of people think of the
microbiome being their gut only.
We have multiple microbiomesacross our entire body, which is
so fascinating to me, and oneof them, of course, being in
your mouth, to me, and one ofthem, of course, being in your
(16:52):
mouth.
So any nitric oxide booster youmight be taking, whether it be
from beetroot juice, whether itbe from citronine, citrulline or
arginine or a combinationthereof, if you brush your
tongue prior to using it, it isnot seen to be as effective.
Isn't that fascinating?
Not that I don't want you tohave good oral microbiome health
(17:12):
, but it can actually affectthat.
Similarly, and most importantlyin my mind, some people
genetically convert nitrates tonitric oxide more efficiently.
If you have genetics that aregood at this process, those
nitric oxide boosters are kindof pointless for you.
Save your money.
(17:32):
You're welcome.
If, on the other hand, thepeople who will benefit the most
from things like nitric oxideboosters are the ones who have a
certain genetic snip withspecific alleles, so specific
genetic combinations that arenot very good at this process.
(17:53):
Therefore, those nitric oxideboosters are going to help.
Now, that being said, nitricoxide boosters are also in
naturally in things like spinachand beets and arugula.
Spinach and beets and arugula,please, y'all eat your
(18:14):
vegetables.
But again, you can save yourmoney if there are certain
genetic alleles that you havethat mean you don't need it or
you would certainly benefit from.
So then you can decide whetheryou want to go that route, all
right.
So here are some additionalsupplements that might help, but
perhaps only in specificcontexts.
So one that's being studiedright now beta alanine.
There has been research forendurance performance in the
(18:40):
training aspect with repeatedhigh intensity efforts, but less
helpful for long steady stateendurance.
So if you're going out for afour hour zone to ride or a two
hour zone to run, beta alanineprobably not going to be as
beneficial.
But if you're doing repeatedhigh intensity let's say FTP
(19:03):
intervals or VO2 max intervalsthen beta alanine can be
supportive.
However, this is not like a oneand done kind of deal.
It's not like caffeine, whereyou take it and you're like oh
okay, you're working.
Beta alanine is a little bitdifferent.
You have to be on it morechronically in order for it to
(19:23):
take effect.
So that just may generally beone of those like eh, is it
worth it If you're doingsomething like sprint or Olympic
distance triathlons or you'redoing 5k, 8k, 10k?
Eh, maybe If you want to playwith it?
One of the biggest side effectsor potential side effects that
(19:43):
people might call it a complaintor call it.
An interesting feeling is thereis this sensation of tingling
when you take it.
So some people really like thatand honestly I think that
likely that likely promotes thepotential placebo effect.
So if it's not actuallybenefiting your performance but
(20:05):
you feel this tingling effect,it's like, oh yeah, I'm getting
ready for exercise and that mayalone help your performance, so
that might be worth it.
If you feel uncomfortable withthat tingling sensation and
there's some bufferedbeta-alanine sources that reduce
that feeling again, this mightbe one.
(20:26):
Eh, you might leave it on theshelf still.
Or if you're able tochronically take it and
certainly doing a lot of highintensity intervals, you may
find a benefit of it.
But this might be one that youmight be able to do without.
A more recent one that's comingback into popularity, which kind
of blows my mind a little bit,but hey, that's how we operate,
(20:49):
right?
Is sodium bicarbonate, orbicarb for short.
Y'all this is baking soda, soit buffers lactic acid but
oftentimes causes GI distressunless it's dosed precisely.
So we get a little bit deeperinto this.
I'm not going to go into thisnow in terms of how you dose it
and when you take it, but thisis another one that does need a
(21:12):
little bit of a runway.
So anywhere from four to sixweeks of taking it on a more
consistent basis, and you haveto practice it.
This is not something that youcan just down a bunch of baking
soda and hope for the best,because you might regret that
very quickly.
So another one that I want tomake sure to address is creatine
.
I personally love creatine.
(21:33):
I think it's a great productand certainly used in a lot of
strength and power sports.
But holy smokes, this one hasbeen researched in so many
different applications.
It's amazing, everything fromtraumatic brain injuries to
increased weightlifting.
It may support more highintensity efforts, more so than
(21:57):
certainly in multi-sportathletes or in, you know,
endurance athletes, but it'sless effective in.
Will it help you get a fasterIronman time?
Probably not.
Will it hurt you or decreaseyour likelihood of gaining time?
Also probably not.
But if you are somebody who'svegan, certainly that's a great
(22:20):
one to lean into and of courseyou won't know this until you
start to take it.
Somebody who has lower baselinelevels of creatine, because for
some people again geneticallycreatine they can take it and
they don't ever really raisetheir baseline levels and it
won't necessarily provide thestrength and power boost.
(22:41):
But another population that I'mfinding it to be really
beneficial for is menopausalwomen.
To be really beneficial for ismenopausal women as we start to
lose bone mass, potentially, orlean body mass.
This is one.
In conjunction with picking upheavy things or your strength
training could support lean bodymass and maintaining that.
So in that respect, if somebodyis also picking up heavy things
(23:04):
and doing endurance sports, itcan certainly support that lean
body mass and longevity, ratherthan just thinking of oh, will
it make me faster in my Ironman?
I certainly lean more into theformer, but will it make you
faster in Ironman?
Probably not.
So again, might be one of thosethat you leave behind.
And quick note on creatinedon't want it to be in liquid
(23:27):
for extended periods of time.
It's not not as effective, allright.
So another one that I would beremiss if I didn't mention it
antioxidants.
Chronic high dose antioxidantuse is not recommended and can
blunt your training adaptations.
So what do I mean by specificantioxidants?
Because antioxidants can be avery broad range, but more
(23:51):
specifically I'm talking aboutvitamin C and vitamin E.
I know people love theiremergency products and they're
taking it chronically or evenmore, more than a thousand
milligrams a day, 2000, 3000.
And certainly in the periods oftime surrounding exercise it
seems to blunt some of thosetraining adaptations.
So probably not the best optionif you are looking at
(24:17):
increasing your endurance.
And definitely vitamin E is thesame.
But, that being said, it isgood for you to get those things
from your food.
So vitamin C, things like redbell peppers, strawberries,
guava, if you have access to it,and vitamin E is nuts and seeds
that you can sprinkle on youroatmeal and add to your snacks.
(24:41):
So those certainly will helpyour daily nutrition and support
your overall training.
But in chronic high doses,antioxidant supplementation can
blunt those training adaptations.
So all right.
So what should you actually dowhen it comes to supplements?
Well, that really depends onyou, but we certainly know that
(25:04):
carbs, hydration andelectrolytes start with the
basics.
Those guys are certainly goingto be the ones that actually
work.
Make sure, also, everythingneeds to be tested in training,
especially for events over 90minutes, so that there are no
surprises on race day, andthings like lab data can
certainly be helpful andinsightful for making sure that
(25:27):
you're picking out.
It's just a faster track topick out what actually works for
you from your sweat testingresults from your genetic
insights in order to fine tuneyour strategies.
And remember, supplements aretools, not shortcuts.
So just a reminder that yourbiggest friends for improving
(25:48):
your endurance performance areconsistent training, good
quality consistent training, Ishould say, consistent sleep and
wonderful daily nutrition.
So if this episode got youthinking about how to fine tune
your supplement strategy, oreven if you've been second
guessing what to eat or drink onrace day, then definitely check
(26:08):
out our fueling and hydrationbootcamp.
That is exactly what you need.
Grab a spot on the prioritylist.
Now.
It's the endurance edgecomforward slash fueling bootcamp,
and inside that program we covereverything from carbohydrates
in depth we go into themetabolism of them so that you
can create your specificstrategy for every different
(26:31):
race distance going overelectrolytes, reviewing caffeine
, including going over thedifferent genetics, going over
nitric oxide boosters, so thatyou can actually start to test
what works for you timeeverything correctly.
And then you'll also get accessto fueling calculators,
templates for different types ofevents and guidance directly
(26:51):
from me so that you can build aplan that's race ready, not just
lab perfect.
So whether you're gearing up fora marathon or triathlon long
distance cycling event, this iscertainly the most comprehensive
, science-backed program to helpyou show up confident and
prepared on race day.
So spots are limited.
Again, just a remindertheenduranceedgecom forward
(27:14):
slash fueling bootcamp.
To get onto the priority list.
Save your spot and if you likedthis episode, be sure to
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